By
Julius K. Satsi/Jacqueline Appiagyei, GNA
Accra, Nov. 12, GNA
– A three-day Project Finance 2019 Conference, an event to help private sector
mobilise funds, has commenced in Accra with a call on businesses to ensure
transparency in their practice to unlock available financing schemes.
Mr Mike Carter, the
Founder and Head Partner of the International Financial Partners, who made the
call, said transparency is a key requirement for global funding to ensure that
they were putting their funds in a trusted venture.
The Conference,
which aims at helping industries to access international funding with its
attendant conditions, is organised by the Trustwork Oakbuild International
Limited (TWOBIL) and the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).
In an interview with
the Ghana News Agency, Mr Carter recounted his experience in 2016, when on a
visit to Ghana adding that anytime he requested information from businesses, it
was met with defensiveness and this would not help businesses to attract more
global finance.
Dr Emmanuel
Tweneboah Senzu, the Director of Technical Service for the TWOBIL, said it has
become difficult for the private sector access funding globally adding that
governments sometimes access those international funding not on the merit of
their documentations but rather due to the sovereign guarantee backing them.
He said in a
developing economy, our economic indicators are not independent on themselves
as both the private and public sectors are clamped together.
This, he said, has
made it difficult for investors to separate public sector performance from that
of the private sector adding that the Conference would empower the private
sector to distinguish itself and perform better with access to finance.
Mr Kofi
Obeng-Ayirebi, Head of the Project Finance Conference Secretariat, said it is
time for Africa to join the race in sourcing for funds on the international
market to fund various developmental projects.
He said securing
finance globally has the potential to bridge the huge infrastructure
development gap in Ghana and on the African continent.
Mr Obeng-Ayirebi
said the world has used the vehicle of international finance over the years to
address the needed financial resources for various infrastructure products
adding that: “The time has come for Africa to rise up, we cannot sit down to
expect handouts”.
Mr Kelvin Sowah, the
Director of Sales and Marketing at the GCGL, said over the years, his company
has identified that accessing finance has been the major challenge encountered
by Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the business community.
He said the
three-day conference is designed to support the business community to go
through the various processes and documentations needed for accessing finance
in the global financial space.
GNA
